Who Should I Start? John Bates or Jared Wiley

Friday, January 24, 6:03 PM

Washington Commanders tight ends John Bates (shoulder) and Ben Sinnott (shoulder) were both removed from Friday's final injury report and will be available on Sunday for the NFC Championship against the division-rival Philadelphia Eagles. Zach Ertz (rib) will also be active after practicing in full on Thursday and Friday, so neither Bates nor Sinnott are realistic DFS options for fantasy managers this weekend. The 27-year-old Bates has played through a shoulder injury in both postseason games but has only one catch on three targets for 20 yards to show for it. He had eight grabs on 13 targets for 84 yards and no scores in 17 regular-season games (six starts). Sinnott, meanwhile, has not even been targeted in two playoff games and caught all five of his targets for 28 yards and one touchdown in his first 17 NFL games during the regular season.

Wednesday, June 18, 12:52 PM

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Jared Wiley (knee) is participating in individual drills at mandatory minicamp this week while wearing a brace on his surgically-repaired right knee. The fact that Wiley is even taking part in offseason workouts at all is pretty impressive after he suffered a torn ACL last November. The 24-year-old is doing well in his recovery, but he still may not be fully ready for training camp this summer or the start of the 2025 regular season in September. The former fourth-rounder (131st overall) last year will merely be competing for the No. 3 tight end spot with Robert Tonyan when he's fully healthy as depth behind Travis Kelce and Noah Gray. In his first year in the NFL with the Chiefs in 2024, Wiley only appeared in seven regular-season games (two starts) and caught his only target for seven yards. He's nowhere near the fantasy radar.